Work around request for a bug with airdrop in the most recent update to Mac oS Catalina

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Work around request for a bug with airdrop in the most recent update to Mac oS Catalina

Hi Guys, this is Stephen. I updated to Mac oS Catalina 10.15.5, and then soon after updated to the supplemental update when it was released. Before Mac oS Catalina 10.15.5 was released, airdrop was working just fine. But ever since I updated to 10.15.5, now airdrop doesn't work at all. What I mean by that is, when I try to airdrop something from my iPhone to my Mac, a voicememo is what I'm trying to drop, when my mac receives the request Mac os automatically declines the drop, I know that because my phone says after it tries to drop the memo that my computer had declined, I didn't even get asked if I wanted to except or decline. I verified that this was a bug by rolling my Mac back to Mac oS Mojavi, and the problem was gone. But I don't like running out of date software. I have also noticed that the same thing happens if I try to drop a file from my Mac to my phone, the same thing happens, iOs automatically declines the request. I have already reported this bug for the Mac oS side twice, I couldn't find the right area on the feedback page to report the iOS side of the bug. My question is, do any of you know of a workaround for this bug that I can use until Apple releases a fix for this bug? This is a big inconvenience for me because I am constantly making new voicememos and I airdrop them to my Mac for backup purposes, and now that I can't do that anymore it's now much harder to back those up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, and by the way I have my airdrop settings on both my Mac and my phone set to everyone.

MacBook Air

Posted on Jun 24, 2020 10:41 PM

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Answer 1

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Jun 29, 2020 11:57 AM in response to Stephen Zelley

Hello Stephen Zelley,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!

We understand from your post that you are not able to AirDrop a voice memo from your iPhone to your Mac when using macOS Catalina but can when using macOS Mojave. Make sure both your Mac and your iPhone are both using the same Apple ID along with both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on. This article has some additional information under the heading, "If you can't see the other device in AirDrop", which may also help resolve the issue you are experiencing:

Use AirDrop on your Mac - Apple Support

Also, does the same thing happen in a new user account on your Mac? If not, there could be a setting or app preventing you from being able to use AirDrop properly. This article will provide you with the steps to test an issue in a new user account:

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support

Best Regards.

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Answer 2

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

Jun 30, 2020 9:49 AM in response to Stephen Zelley

Stephen Zelley,

What year is your MacBook Air? If it is 2011 or earlier even though it works to AirDrop with macOS Mojave, the newest update to macOS Catalina does not support the Legacy AirDrop feature. This could be why it works with macOS Mojave and not macOS Catalina. If your MacBook Air is a 2012 or later then you may want to contact Apple Support for additional assistance.

Get Support

Take Care.

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Answer 3

Jun 30, 2020 1:37 PM in response to Joseph_S.

The only thing I can think of that might help is to downgrade my phone to iOS12, but I don't know if there is an Apple authorized way to do that and I don't know how I would go about doing that, maybe the bug is both in iOS and Mac oS, the problem could be in my phone. I've ruled out the firewall, tried. turning that off, tried turning wifi and Bluetooth off and then back on on both devices, still same results. Might I ask is there a possibility of downgrading back to iOS12 and see if that works? Thanks in advance.

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Answer 4

Jun 29, 2020 7:24 PM in response to Teddy_B

Neither my phone nore my mac are on an Apple ID. Also, this problem happens even on a clean install of Mac oS. Bluetooth and Wifi are both turned on on my Mac and my iPhone. This problem goes away when I install Mojavi, this problem didn't crop up until the most recent update to Mac oS Catalina, 10.15.5 this problem didn't start until they released that update, everything was working just fine until then, I have reported this bug at least twice, once when they released 10.15.5 and again when they released the supplemental update because it still wasn't fixed, again like I said this problem still happens, even if I completely reformat and reinstall a fresh copy of Mac os.

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Answer 5

Jun 30, 2020 1:03 PM in response to Joseph_S.

My macbook air is the 2017 model. Update, I am now finding that airdrop sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, I was able to airdrop 1 voicememo but not another one, I reverted back to Mojavi and still have the same issue. So now maybe it wasn't a bug in Catalina after all. It's just strange because airdrop was working just fine but now I'm having issues. Now, to make it clear, when I try to airdrop something from my phone to my Mac, my macbook air does show up, but when I attempt to airdrop something my mac automatically declines the drop, I know that because immediately after tapping on my computer my iPhone shows that the drop was declined, I'm not being asked if I want to except or decline, Mac oS is automatically declining. Very strange problem.

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Work around request for a bug with airdrop in the most recent update to Mac oS Catalina

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